Improvement



D. SOVUTHE-RLAND.

Improvement in Car-Couplings.

N0. 133,268". I Pa tented Nov. 19,1872.

ai itmmz Quveutnr: @Mmm Odd/aw WM 7 AM PHOTUi/THUGRAPH/C CQNYQSEORNE'S PROCESS UNITED $TA'IE TENT OFFICE.

IMPROVEMENT IN CAR=CQUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 133,26, dated November 19, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DARIUS SUTHERLAND, of Milo, in the county of Bureau and State of Illinois, have invented an Improved Gar-Coupling, of which the following is a specification: The invention relates to that special class of car-couplings which are made to couple the cars automatically or by impact; and consists in attaching the pin to a lever and weighted lift-bar, arranged outside of the draw-head and above the platform of car, whereby a projection from the top of one car is made to strike the lift-bar, whose weight then turns the lever on its fulcrum and carries down the pin into i the link.

In the drawing, the figure represents a longitudinal central section.

A represents the draw-head of a car, B an ordinary coupling-link, and O the usual coupling-pin. Having found by experiment and practical experience that the automatic couplings which have mechanism confined to the limited space within the draw-head allow the pin to drop at the wrong time and are not visible to the coupler, I have endeavored to remedy these dilficulties and secure a coupling that is both automatic and plainly visible to the man whose business it is to see that the cars are properly attached together. In order to accomplish this object, I erect a post, D, on one platform of a car, and near its bottom pivot the lever E, to whose other end is pivoted the coupling-pin G. F is a lift-bar, which may be weighted or made so heavy that it will be quickly pushed down by the gravity of the lift-bar, lever, and pin. This lift-bar, being pivoted to lever E, works in slot 9 of the top piece G, and has a pin, f, placed at right angles thereto and just above the upper face of said top piece. H is a projection from another car, which is to be coupled with the one carrying-pin. It is arranged, preferably, in a plane below that of top piece G, although it may be placed at some other point above or below.

The operation is as follows: When the coupling-pin is not in use the lift-bar F is held by the pin f on the top piece G; but when another car having a link, B, comes in contact there with its projection H strikes the lift-bar, unlocks it from top piece, allows it tocarry down the lever and pin, and quickly couples the two cars. Of course, in uncouplin g, the lift-bar must be raised by hand.

Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The lift-bar F having pin f, the slotted top piece G attached to upright D, and the lever E combined with a car-coupling pin, 0, as described, so that it may be readily and automatically opera-ted by a projection, H, on another car.

To the above specification of my invention Ihave signed my hand this 20th day of August,

DARIUS SUTHERLAND. \Vitnesses: f

L. J. BATES, SAMUEL GALLAHER. 

